The era of Diocletian and Constantine--when the Christian church passed from persecution to imperial favor--saw far-reaching administrative changes that established the structure of government in the Roman Empire for three hundred years. This was a complex period of cooperation and rivalry between co-emperors, the result of Diocletian's experiment in government by four rulers, the tetrarchs. Drawing together material from a wide variety of sources, Corcoran studies the vast range of documents issued by the emperors and their officials, and assesses how effectively the machinery of government...

The era of Diocletian and Constantine--when the Christian church passed from persecution to imperial favor--saw far-reaching administrative changes that established the structure of government in the Roman Empire for three hundred years. This was a complex period of cooperation and rivalry between co-emperors, the result of Diocletian's experiment in government by four rulers, the tetrarchs. Drawing together material from a wide variety of sources, Corcoran studies the vast range of documents issued by the emperors and their officials, and assesses how effectively the machinery of government...